One of the ways Nonni & Poppi will be with me on the day of our wedding is through my engagement ring. As I mentioned before, the center stone on my ring was Nonni's. It wasn't her original engagement ring (as mentioned above - he originally proposed with a bent nail in the shape of a ring - he was a farmer!), and as a family, we haven't quite figured out when he gave her this ring, but it was always the ring I remembered her wearing.
You know that Sex and the City episode, where Carrie finds the ring in Aidan's bag?
I knew that I would want it reset to be more my style, and I know that Nonni would have completely supported that. I knew exactly what I wanted - I wanted it reset in white gold with a halo, with small diamonds along the band.
Mr. Llama and I shopped around a bit - I had seen pictures of pear-shaped halos, but never seen any in person. We went to countless stores, looking for a pear-shaped halo, just to make sure I wanted to commit to this - and no one carried them. Which was simultaneously nice (ooh - I guess it's a unique ring!) and annoying (but I just want to see it before I pull the trigger!)
Eventually, I found a jeweler from one of the galleries here on Weddingbee! A woman had posted her (much larger!) pear/halo, and had mentioned who had made it in Chicago. While even she didn't have one in stock exactly like what I wanted, she did have a 3-stone pear halo that gave me a rough idea of what it would look like on. At some point, we stopped shopping, and the rest was up to Mr. Llama. He ended up going through her (Chicago Diamond Center), and I couldn't be more thrilled!
Will you be wearing any meaningful heirlooms on your wedding day?